ReCore, First Impressions

So after finally finishing Dragon Age: Inquisition I decided that I would play something completely different and started Recore. I am only a little ways into it and so far am loving it. It is nice to play a game that is not mainly about fighting, but also has puzzles to solve and a lot of items to find. It is so great to have something different after the 150 hours of a really intensive game. I am excited to be able to play a game that has a very different pace to it. At the same time the story so far has me incredibly intrigued. Recore is a throwback to games such a Metroid and Zelda, but with a new twist, which is great to see.

Story

The story so far has been incredibly fascinating. You play Joule who has woken up on a place called Far Eden where you are supposed to be a part of the forward team to prep the planet for the survivors from a plague that had hit Earth. Joule seems to have just woken up and needs to find a power source for her main transportation. As we are running and jumping through the world there is a voice over that seems to be Joule’s father letting the player know that something has gone wrong. As the story moves forward it is obvious that something is off because Joule is not meant to be alone and yet there is not another soul in sight except for Corebots.

Jumping Puzzles

One of the good and bad pieces is the various jumping puzzles that can be found through out the world. It is nice to have something different, but usually jumping puzzles are the bane of my existence. At the same time the mechanics in Recore definitely provide some interesting options for jumping puzzles. Not only do you have jet boots to help you jump you also have a jet pack to allow you to boost dash forward. This allows you to jump higher and farther than you would under normally situations. Then they have this technology that allows you to use the double jump or dash a second time mid air, it is such a great mechanic that adds an interesting element to the usually terrible jumping puzzles.

Companion Corebots

The other great part of this game is the companions that you get to take along. You start with a robot dog as your first companion who not only helps you in combat, but can dig up stuff in the world. There are other companions that you will get throughout the game that will each have different abilities. Part of what is great about the companions is that they level up with you and part of what you can do is build them new chassis to give them new abilities and upgrade their base stats. They level up and become better over time, but then you also want to take every chance you can to tinker with them. You do this by using the pieces that you find in the world to make the upgrades. Since there are not really other people it is not about using money it is really about building it yourself and then it does take a certain resource that functions as money to actually be able to install the new piece. It adds a fun element that you do not see that often.

Different Pace

The thing I think I am loving the most about this game is that it is a bit of a different pace. I feel like games keep trying to one up each other on who has the bigger more epic story. It is true that you want to get the most bang for your buck, but it is nice to have a game that I can pick up and feel like I accomplished something if I just play for half an hour to an hour versus other games where it can feel like it takes that long just to really get started. Now there are a lot of dungeons that you can do, which obviously take more time, but there is also the ability to go out into the world, explore, and find important stuff just out and about. At the same time they have put together what feels like a very compelling story with a lot of mysteries for a player to uncover. It is more than just going around solving puzzles, and killing things, but the story of a girl alone on a planet where things seem to have gone terribly, terribly wrong.

Now time for me to jump back to Far Eden to see if I can find more companions and uncover what went wrong.

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Co-founder, creator, podcaster, writer, designer, and more on Comparative Geeks. Started writing on January 2013 and have remarkably kept it up through a lot of different life changes the biggest one being the addition of a Geek Baby. Really loves a good story no matter the medium, but never has enough hours in the day to enjoy all of them.

2 comments

It’s funny you say jumping puzzles are the bane of your existing. I also kind of hate platforming! I mean, I shouldn’t say that. It can be fun, and I agree that ReCore does an awesome job with it. I’m just terrible at it!

I at least will, whenever given the opportunity, zone myself out in a game. I fall off everything! This is why Holly is playing this game, and not me! But it’s awesome to watch the jumping in this game, you’re like “I think I can get there” and then jumps and boosts later, you totally get there.

The tip screen that said you can use the rocket dash off the ground, and then can double jump and rocket boost all in the air – that really upped Holly’s game!

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